Wednesday, December 31, 2014

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I did a post like this one last December and it was neat to see which pieces stood out as my favorites for the year. As you might have guessed, it's all neutrals this year. To be fair though, all my favorites from 2013 were neutrals too.

Monday, December 29, 2014

[going]
To three different art museums: The Art Institute of Chicago (easy one since we're members and eat lunch there at least once a week), The MCA (best place to see what artsy people's children look like), and The Broad Museum in East Lansing (since we were nearby to go to the movies).

[watching]
A whole lot of Peaky Blinders on Netflix. And apparently trying on hats and talking in terrible Irish accents as a result.

[buying]
Presents. (Obviously.) And a few things for me along the way:

A new batch of necklaces from Forever21 (including this drop-chain choker). Even though I've cut way back on my cheap shopping this year, I am still terrible at losing/breaking jewelry, so it's best to keep my purchases on the cheap side. Total: $45.

2. These fleece-lined tights are the best ever. And they're $7.97 at Nordstrom Rack. You are welcome.

3. I went dress shopping last week for a work-holiday-cocktail-party dress and ended up buying purple coated jeans. This is a bit of a logistical problem for what I'm going to wear tomorrow night, but a major upgrade for my jeans collection.

I had work-pants-that-can-be-worn-with-winter-boots and comfy-jackets-that-look-a-little-professional on my shopping list this month and I did much better with the latter. I found a great jacket to replace my cream and gray quilted motos from grad school. (You can see the cream one in it's heyday back in this post and gray in this old post). And then I bought three tops because I'm a sucker for a good pattern and a mossy olive green.

Monday, November 24, 2014

creative: I definitely took full advantage of working in a casual office in a creative industry by wearing my superhero leggings. They've only appeared on the blog once before because they're a little bit too Sandra-Dee-at-the-end-of-Grease.

Friday, November 21, 2014

[three things]
1. Lately I've been wearing these joggers to work more. Even though the bottom cuff looks pretty casual, the fabric dresses them up a bit. This combination of fancy and slouchy is totally my thing lately.

2. And it makes me want to buy every single moto jacket and gray tunic from Loft's Lou&Grey line. This could be trouble.

3. For some reason even though I can wear jeans any day of the week, I tend not to. Black pants (even these casual ones) will always look more work-ready to me than jeans do. And I'm still new(ish) to the company and still trying to convince people that I'm not a summer intern. Blergh.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

[three things]
1. This is a summer dress. As much as I want it to work for cold weather, I think it might need to pack it up with the sundresses.

2. I bought a couple of Zara jackets last year, but now they are all showing signs of wear. I think it might be time to step up my jacket game and invest in some nicer ones.

3. My leopard print coat was hanging on my chair at work when I wore this dress (the one seen in this old post) and I was totally called out on wearing double leopard print. I keep seeing awesome gray leopard print things, but I think I might already be at the maximum number of animal print things that you should have in your closet.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

[three things]
1. These muted green tights date back to when I was in grad school and wore all sorts of color. Sadly, I totally snagged them today, so this is their last hurrah.

2. I've been trying to build up a wardrobe with more patterns and textures (to keep this whole neutrals thing from getting too boring) and so pairing this jacket and dress together is definitely a closet success. Yay!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

creative: My pants look like marble. They are a big hit with the interior designers at work.

young: I've seen some really awesome printed leggings around, but since leggings are not pants, these coated pants are super trendy AND have pockets.

professional: I got in a bit of a shoe rut this summer and wore black flats to work almost every day. Wearing heels is such an easy way to make my usual skinny-pants-and-slouchy-top combination look more dressed up.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

[three things]
1. I can walk further in these heels than pretty much every other pair in my closet, so they get worn for all sorts of occasions. (See below for four other times I've worn them.)

2. I wore this the other day when I had a casual-ish cocktail party after work and didn't feel like wearing a dress and tights. It worked out perfectly and I was super comfy from my morning train ride to work all the way through my late night cab ride home.

3. I'm happening upon more and more of those magazine spread "work to cocktails" types of situations. I always thought that this was a fictional thing and just a way to pass off a cocktail dress as workwear. But I went to cocktail events three nights last week (two for work and one with friends) and now I believe that these types of outfits are actually necessary and practical. I've become a cocktail hour monster! Oh no!
[previously on] snakeskin heels